The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has allegedly denied international veterinarians and animal experts access to Karachi Zoo and Safari Park elephants Malika, Sonu, Noor Jahan and Madhubala, preventing them from receiving medical treatment.

In a detailed post on social media, the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), which identifies itself as a body “promoting compassion towards all sentient beings,” detailed the ordeal faced by the elephants and alleged that the KMC has barred international animal experts from assessing the health of the elephants and treating them accordingly.

The animal welfare society also said that Malika’s health is in “dire straits” and requires “urgent veterinary care”.

“Her cracked tusks, broken nails, swollen legs and urine burnt feet are a testimony to the abuse she [has] suffered,” said PAWS, adding that one of Malaika’s legs is four times the size of her other legs and she appears to be unable to properly bear weight on any of her legs.

“When she walks, she hobbles along very slowly. The pads of her feet are cracked and have deep pits, which the Safari park management and elephant keeper claim to be ‘winter dryness’.”

PAWS said that UK-based animal rights organisation Free The Wild (FTW) offered to help the elephants and send experts to Karachi to assess the animals’ health and devise a strategy with the authorities on how to treat them. They have also been running an online donation campaign for them so that the government does not have to bear the expenses. The campaign aims to raise $30,000 and $17,637.55 were raised till the last update i.e. March 10.

According to PAWS, KMC management gave its verbal permission to Free the Wild and Dr Frank Goëritz and Dr Thomas Hildebrandt, two renowned elephant specialists to come and assess the animals’ health. They were scheduled to arrive in Karachi on February 23. However, the city government changed its decision last minute, denying them access.

PAWS said that they had several rounds of meetings with KMC officials hoping to work out a solution to ease the elephants’ plight but the city government “raised objections against fundraising” claiming “that it brings a bad name to Pakistan”. PAWS also told The Current that neither the Sindh Government nor government officials have made any efforts to help the elephants and keep shutting out the animal rights body saying that “the elephants are the ‘property’ of KMC”.

PAWS urged the federal and provincial governments as well as Prime Minister Imran Khan to help the elephants and ease their plight.

In a statement issued by FTW, all four elephants – reportedly smuggled from Tanzania in 2009 – are held captive in small cement enclosures and chained at the feet for 15 hours a day. The wild animals are suffering from broken nails and lacerated feet due to cemented floors, ​cracked tusks and swollen legs from standing all day and not having any movement. ​

“All four elephants are showing visible signs of psychological and physical pain and urgently need our help,” reads the statement.

FTW further said that just as their vets were “preparing to leave Germany – with visas arranged, international flights booked, local accommodation reserved and, very importantly, medication purchased – KMC suddenly withheld their permission for the Free The Wild vets to enter the zoo and safari park.”

Co-founder of FTW Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, while expressing her disappointment, said: “Words just cannot express how disappointed we are by the sudden lack of support. The trip was planned and even medications purchased. This is not only a major setback for the health of the elephants but also has wasted very valuable funds as the medications will expire and cannot be returned. I fail to understand why anyone bites a helping hand. This was at no cost at all to the KMC and not only would have helped these animals but also provided training for locals moving forward. I hope the petition will overcome these odd bureaucratic obstacles.”

The animal welfare body added that “we are not going to just walk away. We [will] petition Karachi courts and requesting an urgent ruling to ensure the wellbeing of these animals.”

Advocate Owais Awan, who was part of Kaavan’s legal team and helped him gain freedom while speaking to The Current said that they have no choice but to file a petition before the Honourable Sindh High Court (SHC). He asserted that the animals are suffering and need immediate medical care, which can only be provided by experts.

“I was shocked to see the state of the elephants,” said Advocate Awan. “Their enclosures and conditions were even worse than Kaavan’s. He at least had some space to walk. These elephants are kept chained all day in tiny enclosures.”

Advocate Awan explained that all four elephants are African elephants and that Pakistani vets do not have the necessary expertise to deal with their problems, adding that the team of international experts coming were not only going to check the animals but were also going to train vets and caretakers to take better care of the elephants.

KMC responds

Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to The Current, KMC spokesperson Ali Hassan Sajid trashed PAWS claims and said that the animals were doing fine.

“We have a team of vets looking after them and all the elephants are being cared for,” said Hassan. This scribe requested Hassan to share pictures of the elephants. However, they were not received till the filing of this report.

When asked about using vaseline to treat cracks in the skin – a matter which stirred outrage online – Hassan said that vaseline is applied to the animals’ toes and skin because it tends to crack up in the winters just like human skin. He said that the ointment was used to heal the dryness and proved to be very effective.

The spokesperson also launched a tirade against the animal rights body, saying that they are using the elephants to raise donations and collect money.

“Chanda akhata kar rahe hain yeh log sirf,” said Hassan, alleging that the body has raised $30,000 by deceiving people.

Sajid further said that PAWS was bringing a bad name to Pakistan with its fundraising campaign and giving out a message to the world that Pakistan cannot care for its animals.

The official also said that KMC’s legal department is working towards launching an official complaint with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against PAWS for bringing a bad name to Pakistan.

Read more – Mehwish Hayat calls for zoos to be shut down

Earlier, in December 2020, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had ordered KMC and Karachi Zoo administration to shift the 20-year-old Syrian brown bear Rano from her 25-foot wide Victorian ‘grotto’ pit to another open cage, 500 times bigger than her current enclosure. During the hearings, the court had also instructed KMC to present the zoo’s budget and had expressed anger over the fact that there was only one doctor for all animals at the zoo.

Zoos in Pakistan have long drawn international condemnation for their mistreatment of animals. Last year, on December 16, Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo was shut down after the Islamabad High Court ordered for Kaavan, the elephant and two brown bears Babloo and Suzie to be relocated to sanctuaries abroad.